Self-Storage in the Pandemic: People Need Their Space

DBRS Morningstar published a commentary reviewing the effects of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the self-storage industry that concluded that self-storage continues to be an attractive property type for investors as it has been a resilient performer during recessions. In the last recession and many other periods of economic weakness, self-storage performance has held firm. For loans packaged in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) backed by self-storage properties that have reported YE2020 financials, we have seen an overall average positive growth of 1.9% in net operating income compared with YE2019. Further, most of the loans in CMBS backed by self-storage properties remained current. Because of this, we anticipate the continued stable performance of self-storage properties in the near term as they have proven their resilience in weak economic times, even during the pandemic.